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16-A Sat., March 29. 1980 SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER The Times
Transplant
explosion
predicted
By SALLY REESE
Times Medical Writer
The surgeon who did the first hu-man
liver transplant said here Fri-day
the '80s promise to be the decade
of "an organ transplant explosion."
Medicine in the '80s will be
enormously involved with trans-plantation,
said Dr. Thomas E.
Starzl, a pioneer in the biology and
clinical science of transplantation.
He predicted advance on a broad
front, to be spearheaded by the
kidney but also including bone mar-row,
heart, liver, pancreas and other
organ transplants.
The focus will be on treatment and
how to do it better, said the chairman
and professor of surgery at the Uni-versity
of Colorado, Denver, a man
reputed to have literally standard-ized
renal transplantation.
In both an interview and a lecture
at LSU Medical Center, Starzl said
the prospects of eliminating rejec-tion
are most promising, and medi-cine,
by exploiting new techniques,
should conquer that problem in this
decade.
Attention will be riveted on im-munology,
where all depends, he
said, but "things that have happened
in the past 24 months" are most
encouraging.
Three new methods dealing with
immunization are being evaluated in
this country and Europe, he re-ported.
To him, the most promising
is a new immunosuppressive drug
which could "open a cascade of
events." This is Cycosporin A, "a
really revolutionary drug" which be-came
available for clinical trials late
last year.
Starzl said Cycosporin A, an ex-tract
from two fungi discovered by
biochemists in an industrial lab, has
been used in four liver and 25 kidney
transplants at the University of Colo-rado,
"and we're fantastically en-couraged
by results." This "very
superior suppressant agent" pro-duced
"stunning results" in bone
marrow transplant in Sussex, Eng-land,
he said.
Starzl is internationally known for
his work in transplantation, in which
he has been engaged for 20 years. He
was the latest lecturer in LSU Medi-cal
Center's visiting scientist series
and staff and student filled the
auditorium to hear him speak.

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Text

16-A Sat., March 29. 1980 SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER The Times
Transplant
explosion
predicted
By SALLY REESE
Times Medical Writer
The surgeon who did the first hu-man
liver transplant said here Fri-day
the '80s promise to be the decade
of "an organ transplant explosion."
Medicine in the '80s will be
enormously involved with trans-plantation,
said Dr. Thomas E.
Starzl, a pioneer in the biology and
clinical science of transplantation.
He predicted advance on a broad
front, to be spearheaded by the
kidney but also including bone mar-row,
heart, liver, pancreas and other
organ transplants.
The focus will be on treatment and
how to do it better, said the chairman
and professor of surgery at the Uni-versity
of Colorado, Denver, a man
reputed to have literally standard-ized
renal transplantation.
In both an interview and a lecture
at LSU Medical Center, Starzl said
the prospects of eliminating rejec-tion
are most promising, and medi-cine,
by exploiting new techniques,
should conquer that problem in this
decade.
Attention will be riveted on im-munology,
where all depends, he
said, but "things that have happened
in the past 24 months" are most
encouraging.
Three new methods dealing with
immunization are being evaluated in
this country and Europe, he re-ported.
To him, the most promising
is a new immunosuppressive drug
which could "open a cascade of
events." This is Cycosporin A, "a
really revolutionary drug" which be-came
available for clinical trials late
last year.
Starzl said Cycosporin A, an ex-tract
from two fungi discovered by
biochemists in an industrial lab, has
been used in four liver and 25 kidney
transplants at the University of Colo-rado,
"and we're fantastically en-couraged
by results." This "very
superior suppressant agent" pro-duced
"stunning results" in bone
marrow transplant in Sussex, Eng-land,
he said.
Starzl is internationally known for
his work in transplantation, in which
he has been engaged for 20 years. He
was the latest lecturer in LSU Medi-cal
Center's visiting scientist series
and staff and student filled the
auditorium to hear him speak.